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The Princess Casamassima
When Henry James chose to, as he did in The Princess Casamassima, he could write about the political turbulence of his era with astonishing excitement and directness. The London underworld of terrorist conspiracies that entangles his hero, Hyacinth Robinson, comes alive under his pen with a violence that seems, 100 years later, only too familiar.
Mass Market Paperbound, 608 pages
Published
June 2nd 1987
by Penguin Books
(first published 1886)
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Read in the 70s in a graduate-level seminar I took as an undergraduate English major.
In my less acute moments, momentarily forgetting the past, I tend to think of novelists' recycling characters as a case of franchising, the process in which anything that's found to sell is offered up for repeat consumption as if it were fried chicken. In truth, characters in whom the author and/or the public have an abiding interest have been reused for centuries. (Jean Giraudoux titled one of his p...more
In my less acute moments, momentarily forgetting the past, I tend to think of novelists' recycling characters as a case of franchising, the process in which anything that's found to sell is offered up for repeat consumption as if it were fried chicken. In truth, characters in whom the author and/or the public have an abiding interest have been reused for centuries. (Jean Giraudoux titled one of his p...more
This is my first foray into the work of Henry James. His writing and character development are extraordinary.
In his preface, James said, "One can never tell everything", and he is masterful in his choice of what he tells about each character. One of the pleasures of reading this novel is the delicious way that the complexity of each character is built. In much the same way that we get to know friends in our lives, James leads us to become progressively acquainted with ea...more
In his preface, James said, "One can never tell everything", and he is masterful in his choice of what he tells about each character. One of the pleasures of reading this novel is the delicious way that the complexity of each character is built. In much the same way that we get to know friends in our lives, James leads us to become progressively acquainted with ea...more
The choice of Hyacinth was a bad choice for the name of the main character who is male, as it called for constant adjustment when reading quickly. James keeps the reader looking down blind avenues expecting things that never happen, i.e. Hyacinth's becoming titled as was the man who impregnated his mother out of wedlock, either he or his best friend marrying the princess or a titled woman who is devoting her life to helping the less fortunate, explicit information about what Hyacinth has committ...more
Until I was about 3/4 of the way through this book, I was planning to give it 0 stars. So boring! If I hadn't put it on goodreads I might have been tempted to abandon it. However, the final quarter was a little better and his themes of elitism/individual achievement/artistry/civilisation vs a monolithic and inflexible justice presided over by democratic and scientific values were interesting. These oppositions are embodied in our hero Hyacinth (the name alone is almost enough to put you off the ...more
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It’s taken me almost a year to get through this book and not one of James’ best. I believe this is his attempt to understand social change, primarily revolution and conspiracy --- violent attacks on his beloved way of life. Democracy doesn’t fare much better, though James recognizes democracy as a necessary evil. We follow the main (male) character, Hyacinth, from impoverished beginnings, through his interest in revolution, to his friendship with the Princess of the title. She encourages Hya...more
I love to read contemporary lit, but every once in a while I feel a compelling need to go back in time ... to remember ... what's old is new again, eh? Surely this one, written in 1886, speaks more to today's political situation than ever ... the rising up of the proletariat ... the idea that everyone cannot possibly win, that everyone cannot live better and well, that there must be losers punished for their success, that the world economy is a zero sum game ...
"...a speech whi...more
"...a speech whi...more
Le oscure origini di un ragazzino, si dice che sia figlio di un pari di Inghilterra, ma sono soltanto illazioni, l'unica certezza è la sua nobiltà d'animo, evidente agli occhi di tutti in quanto risalta maggiormente nel contesto dei bassifondi londinesi.
Le idee rivoluzionarie del popolo fanno breccia nel suo animo, del resto è figlio di un lord..., la vita con lui ha un conto in sospeso, è stata ingiusta ed egli non può perdere l'occasione per vendicarsi di quel bel mondo che lo ha respinto.
Poi,...more
Le idee rivoluzionarie del popolo fanno breccia nel suo animo, del resto è figlio di un lord..., la vita con lui ha un conto in sospeso, è stata ingiusta ed egli non può perdere l'occasione per vendicarsi di quel bel mondo che lo ha respinto.
Poi,...more
Can a person love the fine creations of culture while reviling the class disparities that make such luxuries possible? How can one decide which side to choose when you are beguiled by fine things and easy living but repulsed by the inaccessibility of this lifestyle to the greater populace (including yourself)? These are the questions faced by our young hero Hyacinth, a poor but talented man with unfortunately good taste. Not unexpectedly for a young man, these ideals become entangled in Hyacinth...more
That's sort of a joke above about who I'd recommend this book to. It's about half naturalism (whether genuine experiment or parody I'm not sure) and half Dickens, and it makes you see the connections between the two. I like to think of James as poking around in different styles, making each his own, trying to write like his favorite authors, and so that's what this book is. It also contains that phrase "finely aware and richly responsible" that ended up becoming a theme of my James cla...more
James' style of writing gave me the feeling that I was missing layers of meaning. Or it may have been outdated English scruples that confused my reading....I could never get a definite fix on the characters' relationships. Still, I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed Hyacinth and managed to feel indignant on his behalf in at least some of the right places. My first reading of Henry James....I feel like he tantalized me with the promise of revealing his characters and then finished the story before I had...more
I feel like James is probably the most painfully detailed in his analysis of his characters. It's quite an undertaking, this novel, but I enjoyed every page of it thoroughly. I will always adore this book, as it struck such a deep chord in me with it's patience in handling so much heavy subject matter and social commentary. Hyacinth's journey (and, tragically) ending wasn't without a hint of predictability, though. James transforms his characters so painstakingly, and while you are flooded with ...more
Shayda
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This is the first novel I've read by James that makes so much of poverty and degradation, though admittedly, as the novel goes on, these are referred to more and more in the abstract. Grim, grimy, lightless London is contrasted to the protagonist's few excursions to a great (rented) country house, to Paris, to Venice.
If you're chiefly familiar with late James, as I was, you'll find this novel much more concrete, with many more things, and much more genuine dialogue.
If you're chiefly familiar with late James, as I was, you'll find this novel much more concrete, with many more things, and much more genuine dialogue.
In my opinion one of James' best and most accessible novels. The contrast between his urban and ex-urban descriptions is very effective and impressive. Christina Light is a very memorable woman!
An amazing story about terrorism and the anarchists... intense and very sad.
Early account of the inherent problems of upper class patronge of radicalism.
Not a quick read but incredibly well written. An impoverished book binder in the 1800s finds confusion with his place in society after his father is murdered by his mother, preventing him from assuming his title. He becomes involved with radicals who want him to murder a european princess but after he spend time with her he realizes this is not possible....great insight into the class structure in England.
Beautifully written, but more character development than story.
I once went through a phase where I just couldn't read another book about garden parties and people who didn't have to work...and a friend got me back into James by recommending this book.
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Henry James, OM, son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author, one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the ...more
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